Description
The Covid19 pandemic had an immense impact on multilateral negotiations as diplomats migrated to virtual platforms such as Zoom. This study examined whether Zoom enabled diplomats to initiate or continue multilateral negotiations that were paused due to social isolation. This question merits investigation as multilateral negotiations are rooted in trust among negotiators, alongside diplomats’ ability to read their counterparts’ body language and sense the mood among negotiators. To examine Zoom’s impact, a survey was disseminated among 100 diplomats who used Zoom during the pandemic to negotiate with counterparts. Results suggest that diplomats can “read” a virtual room and even discern their counterparts’ body language. However, diplomats stated that trust cannot be built in Zoom as that requires physical interactions, namely “hallway conversations” in which diplomats foster close working ties. Thus, Zoom may be used to continue negotiations that began offline, but not to initiate new negotiations. The study identified additional factors that impact virtual negotiations including “Zoom fatigue” and the chat application through which diplomats gauge the mood among counterparts. These results are important as multilateral negotiations are expected to become more virtual in the future as diplomats seek to reduce carbon footprints or manage crises in near real time.
